


Alone in a Hotel Room

by that_lavender_boy



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route Spoilers, Gender-Neutral My Unit | Byleth, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, M/M, Not Beta Read, Post-Time Skip, Spoilers, Unrequited Love, claude is wasting away, whether you imagine male byleth or fem byleth it's gay in some way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25177432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_lavender_boy/pseuds/that_lavender_boy
Summary: Claude recalls how much he loves his teacher. He also recalls how they chose Edelgard over him.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Alone in a Hotel Room

**Author's Note:**

> edit: i realized that i never actually like... gendered byleth? so even though i was imagining male byleth it could technically also be fem byleth? anyways i just updated the tags

He felt small. He felt so, so small in Byleth’s arms. Small and safe. Finally. The war had lasted too many years and took too many lives, but it was over now. It was over. It was over. 

It was never over.

Claude burst from underneath his duvet, drenched in a mixture of cold sweat and his own tears. The image of Byleth, tall and proud and blood-soaked above him, was seared into his mind. Byleth was powerful and skilled and brilliant at that moment, commanding Imperial troops in Deirdru before they took the city for the Empire. For the Empire, and for Edelgard. Years had passed since then. Edelgard and Byleth had spared Claude. Edelgard ruled Fodlan now. Edelgard was Emporer of Fodlan.

Claude muttered something incomprehensible to himself before smashing his face into a pillow. He sobbed quietly, alone in a cheap hotel room in Almyra, far away from his old professor. Goddess, how Claude wished he was in Fodlan and not here weeping. He wished Byleth were here, telling him that his schemes were too risky and that his archery needed improvement. He wished he could reach up and cup Byleth’s cheek as he’d always wanted to. He wished he could slip Edelgard’s wedding ring off Byleth’s finger and take them somewhere peaceful. But Fodlan was peaceful now. Byleth’s engagement to Edelgard was a joyful one, and Claude knew that well. He knew it better than he wanted to admit.

Claude stifled his sobs with the pillows as he fought another wave of sadness. He mourned the time he spent with his dear Teach all those years ago. He mourned the peace he felt with Byleth at his side. He mourned the perfect future he dreamt of when he was seventeen: the vision of a sunset at Fodlan’s Throat, where Almyran kids play games with Alliance soldiers at the edge of the mountain range. A vision where hatred was over and sunlight spilled over the rocks and smiling faces just right. He mourned the smile he hoped to see bubble out of Byleth when they saw that future unlocked. He had been grieving that smile ever since they chose Edelgard over him.

Claude felt the pillow in his hands burst from the strength of his grip. The fabric popped and the feathers burst into the air. Claude felt those same stupid feathers stick to the tears on his face as they fluttered down on and around him. He sobbed harder, not caring about who else heard him now. He was rotting in Almyra, penniless and hungry. Clumps of his hair fell out from stress on the daily. He was disgraced and abandoned and hated in both Fodlan and his homeland. He was ruined.

But most of all, he was in love with Byleth.

**Author's Note:**

> oof. flex tape won't fix that  
> ~~~  
> thanks for reading y'all! i promise i won't torture poor claude forever


End file.
